Events - Administrators' FAQs
Adding and Editing Courses and Events
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ 1: How do I add a course?FAQ 2: How do I edit course details?FAQ 3: What is a 'repeat'?FAQ 4: What is 'view/edit repeats?FAQ 5: I can't find my course!FAQ 6: What does 'archive' do?FAQ 7: What is an 'ongoing event'?FAQ 8: What do the different course types mean?FAQ 9: What is 'make visible'?FAQ 10: What is form to mail booking?FAQ 11: Who pays for all this?FAQ 12: What do users search on?FAQ 13: What happens after I submit a course?FAQ 14: How can I promote my company or specific courses?FAQ 15: I have lots of courses to add, what can I do?TERMS AND CONDITIONSAOB
FAQ 1: HOW DO I ADD A COURSE?In the Admin Manager box, top right, click 'Add' and complete the form. Certain fields (marked with a diamond) are compulsory. If the course is a one day course or if it is an ongoing course (e.g. an online course) then the end date can be left blank (see FAQ 5). Set the 'Make Visible' flag to 'Yes' in order to make it visible to users. On completing the form click, 'Submit' and the course will be added. You will be returned to your main course admin menu without further confirmation. The new course will be listed on the main courses and events menu.
FAQ 2: HOW DO I EDIT COURSE DETAILS?Once a course has been added, click on the title of the course in your list of courses and events to edit all the main details (i.e. except the dates and venue information). To edit the individual details of courses running at various venues, click on 'View/Edit Repeats'. This will list all occurrences of the course (including the main event) and enable you to edit the details. If you have a large number of courses in your admin menu, use the 'Search' button on the Admin Manager box to help find it.
FAQ 3: WHAT IS A REPEAT?A repeat is the same course or event being run in a different location or at a different time. Adding a repeat of a main course enables you to vary details such as location, venue, date and price while keeping the core information the same (e.g. title, short and long descriptions, and contact details). This is designed to reduce the amount of information you need to re-key when the same course runs in different places. The 'Other Comments' box can be used to add event specific details such as, "The course in Newcastle always sells out very quickly".
FAQ 4: WHAT IS 'VIEW/EDIT REPEATS'?Once you have added more than one repeat of a course this page enables you to list all the occurrences of that course and then edit the variable content in each of these occurrences including the original 'main event'.
FAQ 5: I CAN'T FIND MY COURSE!You should be able to find your course either through scrolling through your courses list or by using the search facility. It is important to note that if the date for a course has passed, you will not be able to amend the date to a future date. The core information will remain but the variable data (i.e. date, time, venue etc.) will be archived. You can create a new event based on this by repeating it. We do this to ensure that each event is unique thus avoiding confusion arising from repeating the same event many times.
FAQ 6: WHAT DOES 'ARCHIVE' DO?'Archive' deletes events so that they will disappear from your administration menu and also from the view of the users. If you have events that have not yet run, you will be warned of this although you can still archive the record. Individual repeats cannot be archived although they can be hidden (see FAQ 7) to hide them from users. N.B. Once archived, records cannot be retrieved.
FAQ 7: WHAT IS AN 'ONGOING EVENT'?An ongoing event is a course, such as an online course or bespoke training that has no particular start date or end date. In these cases, a start date and end date is not required but a duration should be added and the 'Ongoing Event' tag set to 'Yes'. A course which runs on specific dates over a long period of time is not an ongoing event but should be set up with the appropriate start and end dates. A course which takes place regularly on specific dates or at different venues should be set up with multiple repeats of that event.
FAQ 8: WHAT DO THE DIFFERENT COURSE TYPES MEAN?We have divided the courses up into a small number of categories in order to help users refine their searches. You may wish to add the intended audience in the short or long description. These course types are:
Open course or seminarThis comprises courses, seminars and small conferences where there is one or more speaker addressing an audience. Such events constitute instructor led training and will generally be paid for events.
Exhibition or conferenceThese events will be large open conferences such as those held at Olympia or the NEC. Whilst there may be presentations and speakers there will also be large numbers of exhibitors. Attending the course will generally be free although attending the conference element of the exhibition may involve a fee.
Online courseThese courses are e-learning courses and should be conducted exclusively online. There will be a link to where the training can be obtained if that is hosted within the Sift community. If you have online courses you wish to feature in Sift communities, contact rholt@sift.co.uk.
Bespoke trainingThis is training that is run in-house for a client. It may be bespoke in-house training or open courses that can be run privately.
FAQ 9: WHAT IS 'MAKE VISIBLE'?Ticking 'Yes' to this will make the event visible in user searches. In most cases you will want your courses to be visible but this option exists to allow you to temporarily hide courses by ticking 'No'. This might be used when details of the event have not yet been finalised or if you only want to make the course available at certain times.
FAQ 10: WHAT IS FORM TO MAIL BOOKING?If you wish to allow users to complete a form to be e-mailed directly to you with booking information on it, set this to 'Yes'. The e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address listed in the contact details for the course.
FAQ 11: WHO PAYS FOR ALL THIS?There is no charge to list in the database. Currently there is also no commission linked to bookings made through the site. All transactions and booking are undertaken between the provider and the user. Sift Group Plc has no involvement in the bookings process beyond putting the user in contact with the provider. If you wish to profile your courses or your company above other providers listed here see the relevant FAQ.
FAQ 12: WHAT DO THE USERS SEARCH ON?Users search is conducted on title and short description. The short description gives an opportunity to add a little more detail about the course such as target audience and two or three key points. This should not be a list of keywords.
Keyword: using a single wordIf a single keyword is used, the search will find all instances of the word appearing in the course title and short description. If the root of a word is used, all instances of that word and longer words comprising
